Tennis players frequently measure swing mass of their tennis rackets to ensure the racquet fits the players' personal preference. Proper swinging mass proportions is essential to successful tennis play. Additionally, many tennis players own multiple racquets and need to ensure that all their rackets have identical (or nearly identical) swinging mass proportions.
If the multiple racquets each had a different swing mass or proportions of mass, a player will experience degradation in his or her tennis play when switching between unmatched racquets. The majority of conventional swing mass measurements are performed by costly computer-based equipment; the cost of such equipment makes it impossible for amateur players to own and verify the swing mass of his or her racquets. Other means of swing mass measurements can be performed; however, these other swing mass measurements require complicated pendulum resonance tests that are prohibitively difficult for a player to set up. Furthermore, this complicated test has low reliability and reproducibility, and additionally requires the player to mathematically calculate the swing mass number.
In addition, tennis players like to determine the center mass or balance, of their rackets via a conventional balance board, which are used by laying a racket on a small rod mounted on one side of a board; the racquet balance is found by adjusting the racquet into a perfectly horizontal, and floating position, centered over the small rod. Players determine that the racquet is laying horizontally by just their visual estimate. Players must read the center mass measurement from a small scale located at one end of the floating racquet. This measurement has low readability due to the racquet placement and movement. The low readability, in turn, yields low reliability and repeatability of results, so players currently tend to be using less than exact measurement data.
Therefore, systems and methods are needed for players to easily and accurately determine characteristics of their tennis equipment.